


The next hours

by fadingcolorsdeep



Category: The Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Older Man/Younger Woman, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2013-11-21
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:25:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadingcolorsdeep/pseuds/fadingcolorsdeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immediately after events in 5x8 The Next Month, Natalie and Eli make the most of the limited time they have together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The cab ride

Natalie and Eli hurriedly finish off their glasses of red wine and cab it over to Gold’s townhouse. During the ride over, they keep in continuous contact -- her hand clasped in his strong manicured one, her long finger tracing designs around his wrist, his other hand feeling the soft fabric of her scarlet dress, his breath comfortably warm on her neck as her dangling earrings tickle his nose. 

Eli’s hand moves to her skirt and she feels the cooler air on her upper legs. Any thought of her Canadian ex flutters from her memory. Eli is it, right now… her mind is utterly focused on what he is doing with his hand, and the shadowy pattern his eyelashes make on his face, lit from the headlights speeding past them. 

Christ, they’re in a cab! Natalie tries to focus on their current situation and Eli is making it very difficult. “Eli,” she tenderly mumbles. “G-d.” She grabs his face and kisses him. His mouth still has the tang from the wine they shared earlier, along with a hint of mint.

Their phones hide in coats, set on vibrate. The driver keeps his eyes to the front of the vehicle at all times.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Eli is himself unsure of his current actions. He’s not usually the man to instigate such heavy petting with anyone in a taxi. But he’s been waiting for this moment, for Natalie, for years now. He can’t seem to keep his hands off of her, as if she might disappear if he let go.

Her lips don’t taste of apricots, although of course he has those on his mind. He tastes something darker -- perhaps his own desire.

He senses their stop coming up and slowly pulls away from her, slightly clearing his throat while doing so.

 _How long can you stay?_ He wants to ask. What is a delicate way to phrase how much he needs her without scaring her off?

Before he can say anything, she tells him, “My flight to DC leaves at noon.”

His eyes crinkle as he estimates how much time that gives him to convince her to extend her stay.


	2. Finally

He’s paid the cab driver and they walk the steps up to his town house still holding hands. Natalie thinks, _This is really happening_. Eli thinks, _Finally_. They can’t even wait for the bedroom -- they fall towards each other in the hallway, bumping works of art on the wall, knocking books off shelves. 

She nibbles his lower lip as he pulls her skirt up, his hands roving around her ass. He turns her around, slightly pressing her front against the wall. Her breasts start to tingle, her palms grasp the wall as they slowly and deeply kiss. Things progress from there, Eli barely thinking of what he has to tell her, what he’s been waiting to say.

A short period of time later and Natalie is feeling a tad flustered, her cheeks blushing after Eli has tasted her. She faces him, unkempt, smoothing her hair and sliding her back down the wall. Eli gives her a devilish grin.

“Wow,” is all she can say, but it feels an understatement after the noises he caused her to make just moments ago.

His hand caresses her face as he gives her a peck on her upper cheek and says, “We should probably talk now.”

All Natalie can do is nod in assent, following him to the living room sofa. 

\--------------------------------------------

_Here’s the thing_ , Eli wants to say. _I fell in love with you three years ago and I hope you feel the same way too._

“So…” he begins. “I wouldn’t mind that happening more often.”

“Me neither,” Natalie confesses clearly, chuckling at herself. She feels shiny, airy, loosened.

“I told you I’ve been following you,” he reminds her. “The thing is…” His voice breaks off.

Natalie watches him, reading an unusual awkwardness on his face. Where is the fixer? The take-charge guy who works at the side of the governor? He can’t be this man sitting next to her, with rumpled silver hair she can’t wait to run her fingers through.

“Eli,” she interrupts. “I live in Washington now.” Reminding herself at the same time of the actual geographical distance between them.

“Natalie,” he murmurs. “There’s a thing such as Skype, you know. At least, I think that’s what it’s called. Oh, and Facetime!” He quizzically glances at her face for a reaction.

“Yes,” she admits and gives a false grin, thinking to herself, _It’s not the same as living in the same city, possibly running into each other at Florrick Agos, knowing you could be at my side as soon as I called, the governor’s schedule permitting._

She sighs as he leans her back on the sofa pillows, putting an end to the conversation… for now.


	3. The wee small hours of the morning

A few hours later, Natalie drowsily lifts her head off the sofa pillow and looks at Eli’s dozing face. She yearns to trace his eyelashes with her fingernail, lick one of the smile lines around his mouth, or lightly bite his ear. He looks adorable as he sleeps. Their clothes are mostly off at this point, except a black sock remains on Eli’s right foot.

 _What now?_ She thinks. The clock on the wall shows the time as 3am, and she’s certain that her phone is bursting with emails and texts waiting for her response. She chooses to ignore them all and stay put. She lifts the blanket off the back of the sofa and covers them both. Natalie softly kisses Eli’s cheek and closes her eyes.

\----------------------------------------

Eli dreams of Natalie moving back to Chicago, joining a firm here, being able to see her, touch her, kiss her far more often. She might have been pregnant at one point in his dream, which shakes him up a little. What would that even be like? 

He wakes up to her wrapped in his arms and is thankful that things are progressing as they are. He doesn’t want to scare her off by admitting his deeper feelings, but he knows he can’t let her leave town without telling her. Maybe he can just give her strong hints?

He puts a hand through her dark hair and kisses her eyebrow. He could spend days, weeks, months with this woman and not tire of learning to please her. Natalie blinks awake and kisses him.

“What time is it?” She asks in a whisper.

He squints at the clock and coughs. “6:25,” he tells her as his stomach starts to growl. Well, they did skip dinner last night.

“Do you have anything to eat?” She asks, feeling famished.

“Those dried apricots,” Eli winks at her. “But my maid has likely stocked the refrigerator with enough ingredients for me to whip something up. Basic. Not overly complicated. Like scrambled eggs?”

She smiles. “That sounds great.” After they’ve dressed somewhat -- he in a robe and Natalie in his wrinkled shirt -- she sits in his kitchen while he cooks for her. She takes in the surroundings of his home, noting the baby grand she had missed in their dark maneuvers last night.

“After we have breakfast, Eli,” she starts. “Would you play something for me?”


	4. Play it, Sam

Natalie places her dish in the sink, surprised at how pleasant and homey this all feels. In the other room, Eli sits at the piano and begins playing the first of Satie’s _3 Gnossiennes._ She walks over to lean in the doorway and watch. His hands on the piano are elegant and expressive as they play the plaintive notes; this is the most composed she’s seen him since she returned to Chicago.

Hugging herself in his tailored shirt, she breathes in to center herself before her mind goes haywire. There’s so much still to do before she heads home. Her luggage is currently at the hotel and she needs to check out. She was supposed to meet her dad for breakfast later this morning, but that seems impossible now. To fly out at noon, she needs to be at the airport by…

She takes another calming breath and lets the music flow over her. Stepping to the bench where Eli sits, she hugs him from behind, her hair spilling down his chest. His playing slightly falters as she kisses his neck and strokes down, deep into his robe. He loses composure as her fingers move lower and lower, his hands leaving the instrument's keys to frame her face. 

\-----------------------------------------------

Does Natalie know what she’s doing to him? The episode on the piano bench just about gives him a heart attack from ecstacy. Her touch, her mouth on him… she leaves him breathless. She’s mussed his hair and both of their bodies are covered in sweat.

As she uses his shower, Eli formulates his plan.

  1. Tell Natalie I love her. 
  2. Hope she has a positive reaction. 
  3. Tell her we can figure this out. Long distance relationships aren’t impossible. 
  4. See #2. 
  5. If she thinks things are moving too fast, remind her that we are busy people. Fast is the speed at which we must move. 
  6. See #2. 
  7. Make love to her at least once or twice more before she leaves so our chemistry is fresh on her mind.



He doesn’t go as far as to write this down, but places the items in order in his mind. He feels scruffy as he begins to don a dark blue Versace suit. He’d normally take a shower before dressing, but he refuses to waste time that could be better spent with Natalie.

He hears the shower cut off.


	5. Flight

Natalie dresses hurriedly, her damp hair slapping the back of her neck. Eli has many wondrous concoctions in his bath supply, she could have stayed in there longer if she wasn’t so pressed for time. Her cell phone (she finally checked it) shows the time as 8:45am.

Sitting on the bed to put on her heels, she fights the urge to lay down and sleep some more. She could take her dress off again, curl up under the comforter, close her eyes. Perhaps Eli would come in, get under the covers with her, and then …

Her eyes snap up as Eli knocks on the door. “Eli, come in! This is your room, you don’t have to knock.”

He sits on the bed next to her and takes her hand, pressing light kisses to her fingers. She rests her head under his chin as he begins to speak.

“Natalie,” he pauses, blinks slowly and takes a deep breath. “G-d, why can’t I just say it? I’ve fallen in love with you. There.”

Her heart beats at a quick pace as she gives him a deep kiss, slipping her tongue in his warm mouth. When they come up for air, she says, “Okay.”

“Oh-kay?” He responds, enunciating the syllables and sounding hurt.

“Well, Eli, our recent, ahem, activities have been wonderful and amazing. I just… before this, you know, no word for three years!”

Natalie can’t look at his eyes, his pain is so obvious. “I have feelings for you, I do," she mumbles into his neck. "They’re moving at a slower speed than yours, I think, but they’re there all the same.”

“What do you think that means?”

“It means I can’t miss my flight, _but_ …” she emphasizes as she kisses his cheek, his quirky nose, the smile lines she adores. “We are by no means done.”

She removes his jacket in a rush as he captures her breast, kneading it under her dress and heating her up.

\----------------------------------

So #1 and #7 of Eli’s plan happen, but he feels that #3 needs more work. As they help each other get dressed again (his new shirt is absolutely wrinkled), he says, “You’re back in town soon?”

Natalie looks at him as if he’s an idiot. “My dad still lives here, so yes.” _Duh!_ She is tempted to include, but stops herself. “And, Eli, we are definitely something here." She motions between them. "I’m not sure what that something is, but… I want to find out.”

He grabs her and they kiss hungrily. She feels his arms shake a little as they hold her. They slowly separate, his eyes shining with happiness as he picks up his phone to call her a car. 


End file.
